Red Tape Chronicles has an interesting series of articles about botnets, groups of hijacked computers that can be controlled remotely to send spam, viruses, conduct break-ins, host phishing sites, and of course, commandeer more computers. If you don't take adequate steps to protect your computer, it could become some criminal's slave.

IS YOUR COMPUTER A CRIMINAL?
VIRUS GANG WARFARE SPILLS ONTO THE NET
WHO'S BEHIND CRIMINAL BOT NETWORKS?

You can help protect your computer from botnets by practicing safe surfing:
• Only install software you know to be safe
• Protect yourself with programs like ZoneAlarm (firewall, anti-virus), Spysweeper (anti-spyware, anti-virus), and Ad-Aware (anti-spyware, anti-malware).
• Remember that visiting "questionable" sites is a sure way to attract trojans.

— BEN POPKEN

(Photo: Dan Coulter)